Next Generation: One-shots
by angeldemonpinkpup
Summary: While the Rose story is on Hiatus, I give you random one-shots featuring characters old and new. Rated T for future angst.


_A/N: I'm having a little trouble with my Rose story so for now, I'm going to write some random one-shots for the Hey Arnold Future Generation series...most will be funny and family-oriented but I'm sure I will write some angst, because that's just me. I hope you enjoy!_

"Well dad..." The boy leaning against me starts, "I don't know if this is the bonding father-son moment you were going for but-" he gives me a gentle nudge and I can practically hear the smirk in his voice. "-this has certainly been..." he squirms a bit and the fishing line digs into my side, "...interesting."

I scoff. This was supposed to be a relaxing weekend fishing trip. Just me and my son, getting away from the girls for a few days. I don't know how we got into this mess. One minute we are peacefully fishing in our boat and the next, we're on a crazy ride with some red-eyed demon fish. When he got free and we stopped, our fishing lines had tangled around us.

"Look," I begin, "it doesn't matter how or why we're in this mess, we just have to find a way out." I close my eyes and begin to pull forward, causing the line to sink deeper into my skin.

"Forget it, dad. It won't budge." Phil grumbles in a bored tone, "we'll just be stuck here until someone finds us."

I can't count how many times I've heard something similar come from my wife's mouth back when we were kids. Hell, I got us out of those messes, didn't I? And most of them were way worse than this.

"No, son. We are not giving up!" I squirm some more and Phil moans. "Come on," I urge him. "We're both really smart, we can figure this out."

I can't see his face, but I can just feel the disbelief coming from the boy beside me.

"What do you suggest we do?" He asks, "attempt to find the ends of our lines and untangle ourselves?"

"It does seem our only option..." I answer honestly. Phil sighs and moves an arm to inspect the lines.

I look down as well and notice that sadly, it's impossible to determine where his line ends and mine begins and vice-versa. I can't even tell where the hooks went. I have decided that can't be good.

"It's no use, dad." Phil says after ten minutes have passed, "we're too tangled up."

I groan though I know he's right. "Well then, I guess we have no choice. We'll have to wait until someone finds us."

Phil moans and slumps beside me. In all fairness, this was kind of my fault. It was my idea to come to the spot where Gerald and I first fought the beast known as, "Big Caesar." It was my idea to get those extra long, double duty fishing wires we are now stuck in. And it was my idea to hang on, despite my son's protests.

Now here we are. Stranded. Without food or cell phones because those fell off as we rode the waves. I sigh, Helga's gonna have a field day with this.

Just as our doom seems imminent, the roar of a motor-boat springs to life behind me.

"We're saved!" Phil cries out, happily.

I grin and add, "I told you everything would work out."

"Yeah, yeah." Phil mutters and I can mentally picture him rolling his eyes just like his mother would. Then suddenly, he goes still and moans something that sounds like, "you've gotta be kidding me!"

"What? What is it?" I ask, suddenly concerned.

"It's not a 'what' Dad, it's a 'who' ….he's here!"

"He?" I can't think of a single 'he', my son would speak of like that. In personality, Phil is the most like me. Though he can be just as sarcastic and smarmy as Helga sometimes….I wonder…."It's not Papa Bob, is it?" Even I cringe when he's around.

"No, Dad. It's worse."

Who could be worse than Big Bob Pataki?...not that I'd ever say that in front of him or Olga. My sister-in-law is in denial.

Before I can ask, the motor slows down and a rather large white boat (more like a mini-yacht) appears in my line of vision.

Oh no…!

"Well, well. What do we have here?" A snobbish upper-crust voice reaches my ears.

I inwardly groan and force a smile on my face as I lift my head to see Rex Smythe-Higgins III, an old enemy of mine and his son, Rex Smythe-Higgins IV. They are leaning over the rail of an expensive looking boat with smirks on their faces.

"Hey Rex!" I call up in as kind a voice as I can muster. When we were kids, it was easy not to fall prey to grandpa's hatred of the Smythe-Higgins clan. Over the years, however, even I have a hard time being nice to the rich snuffs. Hmm...Helga seems to be rubbing off on me.

Rex sniffs, "it's Rex Smythe-Higgins the third!"

Now I have to stop myself from rolling my eyes. I smile politely. "I'm sorry."

I notice Rex IV looking at Phil through narrowed eyes and I'm pretty sure Phil is glaring just as intently. Soon enough, Rex IV opens his mouth and snarls, "Shortman."

Phil counters, "Smythe-Higgins."

I groan, this reminds me too much of when I was a kid, constantly getting in the middle of grandpa's fights with the first Smythe-Higgins. I try to catch Rex the third's eye, hoping to convey my fears. I don't see fear like I expected, but contempt and anger. Have we really sunk so low?

I clear my throat to try and salvage any hope of a rescue. "As you can see, we're in a bit a situation here...if you wouldn't mind maybe...giving us a hand? I'd really appreciate it."

Rex gives me a scrupulous look. I watch as he and his son exchange glances. With a smirk and a cross of his arms, Rex Smythe-Higgins the third says, "And why should I do that?"

I could kill this man. I take a shaky breath, "Come on Rex, we were friends once. Remember how you and I would get in between our grandfathers' embarrassing fights? Don't you want to set a better example for your son? I know I do."

Rex sneers at me. "My name is Rex Smythe-Higgins the third!"

I can't help myself. I roll my eyes, "Oh come on!"

Rex growls. Oops. I shouldn't have said that.

"Forget it then! I think I shall leave you to rot."

Rex and his son exchange nods and the boat roars into life and glides away.

I sigh and hang my head. Well, that went well.

Phil is silent for a moment and I wonder what he thinks of me now. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, he speaks up, "great job, Dad. Now we're stuck here."

"Alright Phil. I'm willing to admit I screwed up, just promise me one thing…"

"Yeah, Dad?"

"Promise we never tell your mom what happened today."

I can feel Phil shift slightly beside me. "Alright Dad," he says, "I promise...can we not tell her about my "D" in English?"

"Your what?"

"We all have secrets we like to keep, Dad."

He's got me, there. I really don't want Helga to know I got her son stranded in the middle of the lake...she'd kill me.

I sigh, "Fine...deal."

Shortman residence, same time:

Helga gasped in deep shaky breaths as she clutched her daughters close to her side. "Alright girls here's the deal: when your dad and brother get back, we tell em we were robbed."

"But Mom," Rose started, "what kind of robbers would set a small fire in our kitchen and not steal anything?"

"You've got a point…" Helga muttered, "Alright. Grab some stuff we don't use anymore. We're going to the dump."

"So…" Little Cecile piped up, "...we're going to rob ourselves?"

"...yes. Criminy! Do you want your Dad and Phil to know we can't even last one day without them?"

Rose shook her head and sighed, "I'll grab that ugly lamp Grandma Miriam got you for Christmas…"

"That's the spirit! Let's grab all the stuff we hate! Come on girls!"

Later that night….

"Why would they take my vintage grey shearling coat?"

"I don't know Arnold, robbers are sadistic jerks who don't care about people's feelings…"

"And that ugly lamp?"

"Hey, I never said they had good taste!"

Arnold nodded and lay back, careful not to upset his intense sunburn,"Why start a fire?"

"I don't know...criminy! What is this, 20 questions? While we're at it...what's with that sunburn?"

"Oh uh….ya know...I just forgot to reapply sunscreen. You know how forgetful I can be."

"Uh...huh. And uh….what's with those weird lines all over you? It looks like you got stuck in the fishing wire or something."

"What? No….it's, it's...you know...we don't need to go over details. It was a nice weekend, me and Phil had a great time. I don't care about the weirdness of those robbers, I'm really just happy none of my girls got hurt." Arnold leaned over to kiss his wife.

Helga smiled and leaned into the kiss. "I love you football-head."

"I love you too, Helga."


End file.
